Before we get to this month's question and my insecurities, let me tell you about this super fun event!

Show Us Your Writer
Insecurity!

Are you proud to be an
insecure writer?

Then show
us!

On Wednesday, October 4
(IWSG Day), post a photo of yourself (or your alter ego) with any of the IWSG
swag or with the IWSG logo. Then leave a comment that day at either the IWSG
website’s post or the IWSG Facebook post directing us to your photo. (All blog,
Facebook, Goodreads, and newsletter members welcome, but photo must be posted on
a blog or Facebook to qualify.)

The IWSG site admins will
visit each one and pick the top three. Why? Because there are cool prizes
involved:

Third place – EBook of A
Change of Mind and Other Stories by Nick Wilford, eBook of
The Remnant by William Michael Davidson, eBook of Cling to God by Lynda R.
Young, eBook of Already Home by Heather M. Gardner, and eBook of Dragon of the
Stars by Alex. J. Cavanaugh.

Second place – The entire
eBook collection of the Totem series by Christine Rains, eBook of Princess of
Las Pulgas by C. Lee McKenzie, audio book of CassaSeries by Alex J. Cavanaugh, eBook of Black
and White by Nick Wilford, and your choice eBook from J.L.
Campbell.

Grand prize winner - IWSG
website interview, IWSG newsletter spotlight, IWSG pinned tweet for one week, C.
Lee McKenzie's Featured Follower for the month, the IWSG Goodreads book club
eBook for October/November, a short chapter critique, and a pair of IWSG
erasers.

This month's IWSG question: What are your pet peeves when reading/writing/editing?

I have a lot when reading. Bad grammar, huge plot holes, poor characterization, sloppy formatting, etc. Being a writer has made it more difficult to get past these things, but I do save myself time by putting down books I don't enjoy and moving on to something else.When I'm writing, it's usually things in the environment that annoy me. Noise, people interrupting, cat interrupting, and if it's too hot.My insecurities this month: I'm a new admin for the IWSG. I'm so excited about it. I've been a part of the group for a while. I've received such great advice, encouragement, and support, I'm happy to give back to the community. But, of course, I worry if I'll be good enough and be able to keep up with my responsibilities. What if I mess something up? I don't want to disappoint anyone. The admin team is incredibly organized, smart, and creative. I hope my contribution will continue to make the IWSG such an awesome group.

You all can help me with the newsletter. You can do this by sending me your news. I want to hear about new releases, events, and exciting news. Please send an email with "IWSG - news submission" in the subject line to christinerains (dot) writer @ gmail (dot) com. Thank you!

One more awesome announcement I want to share with you about the newsletter:On August 24th at 2:00 pm
EST, Chrys Fey will be participating in a LIVE YouTube
interview with Evan Carmichael, an entrepreneur who
she'll be interviewing about his book Your One
Word and getting some great advice for IWSG members. You'll be able
to watch the interview live HERE. You can set a reminder if you click on the link, or you can watch
it later. The
video will be uploaded in the August 30th IWSG newsletter
issue.

My biggest reading peeve is pop culture references. With other issues I'll just stop reading, but pop culture references are number one because I'll waste time trying to ignore them when ultimately I'll end up putting the book down anyway or screaming.

Thanks for co-hosting this month. I too wrote about interuptions as one of my writing pet peeves. As for your new admin position, you're already doing a great job and as long as you care about what you're doing and this group you'll continue to be an asset.

Congratulations, Christine. Put all those insecurities aside and go for it. You'll figure it all out and be just fine!!!

Mark Zuckerberg gave quite a speech during graduation at Harvard last May. He said, ""Ideas don't come out fully formed. They only become clear as you work on them. You just have to get started. If I had to know everything about connecting people before I got started, I never would have built Facebook."

I think that is a profound message. It inspires me, and I hope it inspires you.

Interruptions are such double-edged swords... My creative and sensible mind hates them, so I can focus and be productive. But, my lazy, always-thinking-I-have-more-important-things-to-do mind, feels like those distractions need attention. Now. The writing can wait. I agree fully with your reader pet peeves! Thanks for co-hosting and congratulations with the new admin position. I'm sure you will do fantastic!!

Bravo on your new admin post at IWSG. Like I told Chrys, I think you'll handle it beautifully. Yes, I hate errors or sloppy manuscripts and books, too, Christine. It throws me right out of the story world. All best to you.

Christine, thank you for being an administrator! I appreciate the time you're providing as well as stopping by my blog to comment. I hear you on developing more pet peeves around grammar and plot as a writer.

Christine, you'll be an awesome co-host at IWSG and as you say, you'll learn so much but you'll also have lots to share. I'll be cruising the Greek Isles on October 4 so I'll give that IWSG day a miss, LOL!

That's awesome about being an admin! Woot! And I feel ya, being a writer makes reading sometimes super frustrating--though all the better when someone really nails all the bits and pieces and makes a superb story to get lost in :)

Yay - awesome news about becoming an admin! If I get any news worth sending, I know where I'll be sending it.

And I'm with you, being a writer has made it harder to enjoy books that are poorly written, because it's REALLY easy to spot now. However, it also makes the really well written ones even more worth it.

Click, Read, Enjoy.

About Me

I'm a writer, blogger, and geek mom. I write paranormal romance and urban fantasy. I love a dark and gritty story. I have four degrees which don't help at all with motherhood, but make me a great Jeopardy player. Member of S.C.I.F.I. and Untethered Realms.